Joey Paul pleads not guilty to murder charge in shooting death of her boyfriend

Joey Paul says "It was an accident" as she arrives at Saratoga County courthouse Friday to be arraigned on murder charges in the shooting death of Matthew Furlani in July 2012.
(ED BURKE photos/eburke@saratogian.com)

Joey Paul is escorted from Saratoga County Court Friday after pleading not guilty to murder charges in the shooting death of Matthew Furlani in July 2012.
(ED BURKE photos/eburke@saratogian.com)

BALLSTON SPA -- Joey Paul pleaded not guilty Friday to shooting her boyfriend in the head in the Schuylerville apartment they shared in July.

Paul, 29, is charged with second-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon, felonies. If convicted, she could be sent to prison for 25 years to life.

Police responded to her Church Street apartment July 1, 2012, in Schuylerville and found 28-year-old Matthew Furlani dead. He had been shot at point-blank range and was unarmed at the time.

After the arraignment, Paul's Saratoga County-appointed defense attorney, Frederick Rench, said Furlani was shot with an AK-47, but that it was accidental.

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"She didn't shoot him on purpose," he said. "When the facts come out, her innocence will become apparent."

Paul said as much as she was led into court in shackles in the green uniform of a Saratoga County Jail inmate, proclaiming her innocence to assembled members of the media.

She has been held without bail since the shooting. Rench did not request bail Friday, saying that her family could not afford it.

The attorney said he was in Paul's apartment within two days of the shooting with independent forensics experts to evaluate the crime scene.

"The shooting itself is not as simple as it may appear," Rench said, though he wouldn't comment more specifically on the case.

"No case is ever as simple as it seems," Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy III said.

He said the New York State Police Forensics Laboratory analysis indicated "there is no proof to believe it is an accidental shooting. It was a tragedy."

Murphy said the grand jury found the shooting was either intentional or reckless to the point of "depravity," the two theories of the case represented, respectively, by the murder and manslaughter charges.

Rench would not comment on speculation that Paul and Furlani were suffering from heroin addiction, saying it was not pertinent to the case.

Murphy would not comment on their alleged drug use either, but said he anticipated testimony that the two were involved in the sale of drugs.

Rench said he will now have 45 days to make motions and prosecutors will have to turn over their files to him.

Both he and Murphy said they are willing and able to go to trial, but will be meeting in the future to discuss a possible plea arrangement.

Rench said Paul's family is "behind her 100 percent" and her sister was at the arraignment Friday, but declined to comment.